Lavender Brown's Fourth Year At Hogwarts
by RubeePotter
Summary: This is Lavender Brown's fourth year at Hogwarts, told by her. This year isn't going to be easy, with Muggle attacks on the up, and Lavender has to deal with her feelings.
1. On The Train To Hogwarts

(This is a fic about Lavender starting in her fourth year at Hogwarts. We don't know much about Lavender's life before she is involved with Ron and Dumbledore's Army, so this is what I think her life might have been like. It is not perfect, and I do not own Lavender or anyone from the Potterverse so obviously this isn't what really happened in her life. Well, it might be similar.. who knows..)

_I just want to be perfect.. _

**Chapter 1 **

**On The Train To Hogwarts **

I was sitting on the train, in a carriage by myself. It wasn't any old train, it was the Hogwarts Express. I had waved to my parents moments before, and when the clock struck 11 am, I felt the familiar jolt of the train starting, and I sat, with my head against the window, looking out at the train station which soon turned into fields and scenery.  
>Suddenly, the carriage door opened, and I turned my head to see who was coming in. I recognized the familar happy face, with a big grin. It was my best friend, Parvati, and closely behind her was her sister, Padma.<p>

"Hello, Lavender!" Parvati said, happily, putting down her luggage and sitting next to me. "Did you have a good summer?"

"It was alright," I replied. I wasn't my usual cheery self today - in fact, I hadn't been very cheery for a while now. Parvati seemed to notice.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sternly. Padma was sitting on the seat opposite us, gazing out of the window, she hadn't seemed to notice what Parvati had.

"Oh, well.." I began. I didn't know whether to tell Parvati the truth. "It was the, um, attacks, at the Quidditch World Cup." It wasn't exactly a lie, the attacks _had_ worried me a little. Innocent Muggles being used for wizards entertainment? What sort of wizards would do such a thing..? However, there was something else bothering me. I didn't want to tell Parvati about that, though.. yet.

"Oh, I was at the World Cup. That _was_ scary. It's a shame they had to spoil it for everyone else there. I was quite enjoying being in the same place as Viktor Krum. He's so cute in real life, you know," Parvati said, and she giggled. I gave a little smile. Me and Parvati were always like this together, gossiping about things, talking about boys..

Suddenly, the carriage door opened again. I looked up, and to my horror, I saw Harry Potter and Ron Weasley standing there. I looked towards the window quickly, to see if I could see my reflection. I looked a mess! I hadn't even changed into my Hogwarts robes, I was wearing an old pink jumper and jeans, to try and not bring any unwanted Muggle attention upon myself.  
>I closed my eyes and willed them to go away.. in vain.<p>

"Hey Parvati, Padma.. Lavender," I heard Harry say. I couldn't _ignore _him, could I?

I turned my head round slowly, and looked at Harry.

"Hi, Harry.." I said. Ron looked at me, quite cheerfully.

"Hey Lavender!" he said. I met his eyes, and I blushed fiercely. He was standing there, in all his gingery goodness. His hair had grown a couple of inches over summer, and he himself had also grown.

I didn't know what to say, but I eventually gave out a shy "Hi..".

Ron looked at me like I was crazy. I _was_ crazy. I didn't want him to think I was crazy.

"I like your.. hair," I said, quickly, trying to act normal. _I like your hair. _Now he _really _must of thought I was crazy.

"Thanks.." Ron said, awkwardly, and after Harry had said goodbye, they left the carriage. As soon as they were gone, Parvati turned to me.

"Oh, my God.." she said. She giggled slightly. "What was all that about, Lav?"

"Nothing!" I said, looking out of the window again, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"You.. you _like_ him, don't you!" Parvati said, sounding almost triumphant that she had figured out what was wrong with me so quickly.

"Of course I _like_ him," I said, "I have nearly every class with him. I can't exactly _dislike_ him, can I?"

"You know what I mean!" Parvati said. I turned to face her. She was grinning. "But, _come on_, Lavender. How can you fancy Ron Weasley when there's boys like Cormac McLaggen in our house? And other, numerous cute boys. Harry Potter, Lavender! _Harry Potter!_"

I looked away from Parvati again. I didn't really want to talk about it. I knew what she meant. Harry Potter was The Boy Who Lived, for Merlin's sake. He was _famous_. He was _brave_. Ron certainly wasn't famous, and I'd never seen him act brave. He had screamed back in second year when an abnormally large spider had found it's way into the common room. So what exactly did I like about him?  
>Just as I was thinking about all the things I liked about Ron, Padma spoke.<p>

"I can't wait to have our first Divination class. I've missed professor Trelawney," she said. It was a welcome distraction, and we spent the rest of the journey talking about gift ideas to give to our favourite teacher at Hogwarts.


	2. The Triwizard Tournament

**Chapter 2 **

**The Triwizard Tournament **

We arrived at Hogwarts a few hours later. I had changed into my robes halfway there, but it was raining heavily outside. I wished I could stay on the train, or that someone could apparate me inside without having to get wet, but, eventually, me, Parvati and Padma gathered our luggage and left the carriage. As soon as we stepped into the train hallway, I spotted Harry, Ron and their friend Hermione Granger leaving their carriage. I froze, but Parvati pushed me gently from behind.

"Go on, Lav," she said. She was getting impatient. She was probably hungry. _I _was hungry.  
>I started walking slowly towards the trio. They had stopped, and were letting first years pass them. I reached them, and I looked up from the ground, at Ron. He didn't notice me. Harry gave me a smile though. I returned it, and walked on.<p>

We had taken the horseless carriages up to the castle. Me, Parvati and Padma had shared a carriage with a third year I had never met before, Luna Lovegood. She was a Ravenclaw.

"Why aren't you getting a carriage with your Ravenclaw friends?" Padma had asked her.

"Oh," Luna had replied, smiling brightly, "I don't really have any."

I exchanged looks with Parvati and Padma, but we said nothing. I was wondering _why_ she didn't have any Ravenclaw friends, and my thoughts were answered. She was talking about Nargles or something (I have no idea what they are) and she was reading a magazine, I think it was called The Quaffler? But it didn't seem to be about Quidditch..  
>When we reached the castle, Parvati, Padma and me ignored Luna, and went inside without her. (It wasn't really ignoring her.. She seemed like she was in some sort of dreamy state and she probably wanted to be alone.) We made our way immediately to the Great Hall, and Parvati said goodbye to Padma, who went to sit at Ravenclaw table. Me and Parvati sat down at Gryffindor table, and I sat as far away from Ron as possible. I was practically on the opposite end of the table, next to Parvati and Katie Bell.<p>

I tried to avoid looking at him throughout the first year sorting. And I thought I was doing quite well, until Parvati interfered.

"Why do you keep looking over at Ronald?" she giggled. "Why don't you just go over there and _talk _to him. He's just a boy, you know." I shot her an angry look.  
>Ron hadn't looked back at me. He seemed to be waiting for the feast to arrive. I sighed.<p>

After the Sorting had finished, professor Dumbledore stood up to make his speech. Except, this time, his speech was different. He had an _announcement_. I had my head on my hands, I was tired after the train journey, and in the distance I heard Dumbledore say something about '_professor Moody, new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.. let's all welcome him please.. This year, Hogwarts will play host to the Triwizard Tournament..' _I sat up when I heard this. My mother had briefly told me about the Triwizard Tournament. She had gotten me a book about it when I was younger, but I never read it.. But I remembered her saying that it was very dangerous, that wizards and witches had _died_ in previous Tournament's..

"Hogwarts will also play host to some new students from different schools," Dumbledore continued. Parvati patted me on the back and pointed to Ravenclaw table. I hadn't noticed before, but there was more students than normal there, and not all of them were wearing their robes. I gave a quick glance at Ron, and he was gazing at Ravenclaw table. I turned to see what he was looking at, and then I saw her. One of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. She had long, flowing blonde hair, and pale skin and bright blue eyes. I could feel my heart sinking as I took in her features. I looked back at Ron, and his mouth was slightly ajar. He looked love striken. I felt sick.  
>But, I also noticed that Hermione, who was sitting next to Ron, looked exactly how I felt..<p>

"And along with the Beauxbatons students from France, we will also be welcoming the Durmstrang school from Bulgaria, with special guest, Viktor Krum."

Parvati gave out a small gasp, and glanced over to Slytherin table, where the Durmstrang students had chosen to sit. She was looking up and down the table for a few moments, until she eventually whispered,

"It's him! There! Next to Draco Malfoy!"

I looked, and sure enough, there was famous Quidditch player Viktor Krum. I ignored Malfoy. Last year he had teased me when my rabbit, Binky had died. He had a smug look on his face, now everyone was looking at him, sat next to Viktor Krum.

"Isn't he _gorgeous_?" Parvati cooed.

"Yeah.." I said. There was no denying it, Krum _was _gorgeous, but I honestly don't know what had come over me this last summer. I could only think about one boy. And he looked right through me.


End file.
